After scrapping plans to come back in an extraordinary session to modify state law regarding special elections, it appears the state legislature has concluded its business for the 2017-18 legislative session. Let’s take a look back on the major proposals dealing with K-12 education and examine what made it into law and what did not.

The state Assembly has closed the curtain on the 2017-18 legislative session. However, before adjourning, the Assembly passed a large number of bills and sent them to the Senate. Here are the Assembly bills affecting K-12 education that are still alive and could be passed by the Senate when it meets on March 20 and sent on to the Governor’s desk.

The state Senate Education Committee will hold a public hearing tomorrow on nine bills, many of which would impose mandates on public schools. The hearing will begin at 1:00 p.m. in Room 411 South of the State Capitol.

From the Department of Public Instruction (DPI): “Statewide results held steady on the Forward, ACT Plus Writing, and Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) assessments administered during the 2016-17 school year. These exams, part of the Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS), are the statewide assessments for the more than 453,000 public and private choice school students enrolled in grades three through eight and grade 11.

“Participation was up by 5,713 students statewide from the prior school year, and rates improved slightly for public schools with 98.4 percent of students taking the assessments. Choice schools had a participation rate of 93.1 percent. Results for choice students showed some fluctuations across the Forward and ACT assessments, though none were significantly different from the prior year. Overall, public school results across the WSAS were steady. Continue reading Statewide Testing Results Steady; Achievement Gaps Remain→

The current state statute establishing a parental right to opt-out children from testing was enacted when the only required assessments were those required by state law. It predates federal testing requirements enacted under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and continued under its successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). As a not-entirely-surprising result, current state law requires an opt-out to be granted only for state-mandated tests but not for testing that is federally-required under ESSA.

Looking forward to exhibiting at the @WASBWI WI State Education Convention next week in Milwaukee! Visit our booth to learn about our recent school projects and all the services we offer our clients! #2019EdConpic.twitter.com/QgBIP2pVqf

Wisconsin remains one of the few states without laws outlining how schools should help dyslexic learners. In a series of posts, we'll examine several study committees that recently completed their work on topics related to #k12 education in #publicschools. bit.ly/2CmNIespic.twitter.com/xrxou89c8J